Marine Fishes of the Arctic Region Volume 1

Marine Fishes of the Arctic Region is intended for all who do research in and monitoring of marine eco­systems in the Arctic. It presents accounts for 205 species with maps of global distribution and descriptions of morphology and habitat, as well as a photographic identification guide. Information on 24 other species present only in the fringes of the Arctic Region or taxonomically problematic is given in the introductions to the fish families. As the Arctic continues to warm, more cold-temperate species are expected to enter the region and the distribution of true Arctic species will likely retract as the area of ice-covered cold water shrinks. The maps in this atlas can be used to compare future changes in distributions. The identification guide will be particu­larly helpful for identifying cold-water species, since fewer identification tools are available for this group of fishes.

The atlas is partly an expansion of the Pacific Arctic Marine Fishes atlas published in 2016 by the CAFF. No previous publica­tion has pro­vided accounts for the entire Atlantic sector of the Arctic Region, nor for the combined region including both the Pacific and the Atlantic.

We hope that Marine Fishes of the Arctic Region will be helpful and inspire future research. Since the Arctic Ocean is new in an evolutionary time scale, studying species from this area can give insight into the ongoing processes govern­ing zoogeographical patterns like migration and local adaptations. Understanding such processes is of particu­lar relevance in light of global climate change.

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Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna

"to address the conservation of Arctic biodiversity, and to communicate its findings to the governments and residents of the Arctic, helping to promote practices which ensure the sustainability of the Arctic’s living resources."